


Fever

by Cuchillito



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: A lot of smooshes, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Gay Zuko (Avatar), Husbands, Idiots in Love, M/M, they get izumi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29742972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cuchillito/pseuds/Cuchillito
Summary: There was multiple reasons why Zuko shouldn’t want kids, but the most important of them all was because the council keep interfering with his personal life, they insisted he shouldn’t marry a Water Tribe man, they insisted he should find a suitable woman tho marry and have children with and Zuko made it his personal challenge not to act like the Council wanted him to.But deep inside, he really wanted a kid.
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Fever

**Author's Note:**

> Hello zukka nation.
> 
> Before you read let me mention that they are around 25 to 30 years old but i just couldn’t deside. 
> 
> The biggest enemy of this fic are compulsive heterosexuality comming from very old cis men in power and self debut, not assassins and super big coups attempts.
> 
> Also, Zuko and Sokka, maybe they are both trans, maybe they are both cis, who knows, u pick. 
> 
> Woops also english is not my first language.

Zuko woke up in the middle of the night, he was having a dream where he ran without direction until he tripped and fell on the emptiness. His body, his real blood and flesh body, jolted awake and with him so did his husband. In an instant Sokka was holding himself up on his elbow, looking down at him and his jumping heart.

“Did you have a nightmare?” He asked, voice rough with sleep, Zuko couldn’t see much at night, but the moonlight that sneaked true the window illuminated his husband's face just perfectly, his ocean blue eyes bright at night. Zuko must have made some Spirits really pleased to let him wake up to this beautiful sight. 

“No, just one of those one weird dreams where you fall.” He whispered as if he could wake someone up, with that, Sokka’s elbow give up to the weight of his body, he feel heavy into his pillow again, facing him, and yawned big, not bothering with covering his mouth, Zuko put a finger inside it only to annoy him and he laughed lightly when Sokka looked at him with fake hurt. He bitted his finger. “Ouch.” 

It was just a light press, mostly to hold his finger there and smile at Zuko with his lips like, _yeah I caught you._ Then he let it go, Zuko inclined and kissed his mouth short and chaste. “I don’t think i can go back to sleep now, I will go grab some tea from kitchens, be right back” and he kissed Sokka again. 

“Want me to make you company?” He said, but he made no effort into standing up when Zuko sneaked out of bed, he yawned, and his eyes never opened again, his breathing found a pace, Zuko smiled, and put his night robe on, tying a knot around his waist, and made his way out of their charmers.

He saluted the guards that protected his room from any unexpected intruder, like the multiple assassin (one less skilled than the other) that wanted the new Fire Lord down, most of them wanted his father back in the throne, while others wanted the throne for themselves, their assassinations attempts used to be a lot harder to prevent the first years he ascended to the throne, they came from actual organizations, with plan and plots that could have been pretty successful if they weren’t so arrogant, like The New Ozai Society, they were smart and they got the capacity but their haughty and the believe that Zuko was alone in the world made them silent with the years. 

Now most of the attempts came from random assassins neither send by random small extremists groups, whose members were mostly a few rich people that got how to pay them and believed that the new Fire Lord threatened their wealthy (with was actually true since they gained money with the war, they looked at the genocide as a _bussines)._ And well, the assassins were very sloppy and none of them have been rivals for Zuko, or his guards or the Kyoshi Warriors or Sokka or the Avatar team whenever they visited.

But right now, the extremists have been quiet for a few years, and the life at the palace has gotten pretty pacific.

The guard asked if the Fire Lord required company and he said that there were plenty of guards all over the halls that could hear him screaming if something happened, that he could grab some tea without someone tempting to take his life again _._

He made it to the kitchen, thru the hall illuminated by the faint light of the oil lamps, just as calmed and quiet as he walked the rest of his way there, he was slowly opening the door when he head sobbing coming from the inside, he didn’t thought twice of getting inside, maybe he was interrupting something personal he shouldn’t be part of but the watery cries drived him anyway, independent of the part of his brain telling him not to.

He saw a girl inside, illuminated by the light of a single thick candle, she was probably younger than him, still wearing the kitchen maid outfit, her hair was dark and it shined with the candlelight, 

and her skin milky white, like porcelain, he couldn’t see her face, since it was buried between her hands and a piece of fabric that she was using to dry her tears, she let go of a loud cry that sounded miserable, and then she snorted her nose on the fabric.

“Uh, excuse me?” Zuko murmured, he wasn’t sure if he should try to help or if he should run away as fast as possible and let the poor girl deal with whatever problem she got by herself, it wasn’t his place to be there, and he didn’t but he already called her attention and she jumped in her spot, big watery gold eyes looking directly at him, he saw when she recognized him gasping and standing up, she almost send the chair flying backwards for her brusque move. She mumbled apologies while fixing hair and cleaning her face as fast as possible, trying to compose herself so the Fire Lord won’t notice, like if Zuko didn't just hear her choking cries like an agonizing crococat. 

“Fire Lord! What are you doing here?” She asked and Zuko could see how she physically cringed at her own words. “I mean you can be anywhere you want, of course, I mean, what do you want so late from the kitchens? you don’t have to answer that nor your Holy Grace! Would you like me to do anything for you? I can bleed you some tea if you are craving it? Or I can make you breakfast, dinner?, anything Sir!” She bowed at least three times by now and Zuko couldn’t not find this incredibly amusing, he kinda wanted to laugh, so he only smiled a little and moved into the kitchen, starting what he came to do.

“Oh don’t stress yourself, I am only here for a cup of tea.” He said, while opening a gabinet and taking out his favorite teapot, it was dark blue with golden designs of dragons and flowers and matching cups, a gift from his Uncle, he got it for him a few birthdays back.

“But sir! I can do that for you, that's why i was hired here.” She tried to grab the teapot from his hands but recoiled the moment she noticed that she just couldn’t take things from the Fire Lord’s hands just like that! Zuko waved her off, and she made a face like if she just sucked in a lemon without him noticing, grabbing her own hand and pressing it close to her chest to avoid any more inappropriate movement from her hands.

“Well, I do like to make my own tea whenever I get the chance, and it is not very often I get the chance.” He replied. Well that was half a lie, he always did his own tea, at least his uncle did it for him or Sokka, but Sokka only tried that time Zuko got sick and it was mostly boiled water (and sugar, for some reason). He filled the teapot with water and jasmine leaves and placed it on the table just by the spot the girl was sitting just moments ago, he didn’t move her stuff, which were her teary napkin and an open letter that he made an unholy effort not to pry on. “But you can help me with something else.” 

“Anything sir.” 

“I am pretty sure my husband said that there were pastries in the kitchen—“ He barely finished that phrase when the girl rushed to find a large plate full of pastries. “—and I would really like some company, would you like some tea and a pastry?” 

She looked speechless, looking at him with wide golden eyes, still red by her previous break down, she was having an inner fight, frowning, Zuko knew that look, it was the collision between not wanting to be a burden and denying something to the Fire Lord and disrespecting him. 

He smiled at her hoping it would erase any debuts, a small curve on his lips some people could barely call a smile, but that was the way his face allowed his muscles to form it, a nice genuine smile and that now, in the latest years of his life, came so easily to him. With uncertainty she accommodated her chair and sat down in the same spot he found her and he put an empty cup in front of her and one for him, she thanked him softly and then he sat down by her side. 

“Fire Lord, sir, you forgot to boil the water.” She whispered, probably afraid of waking up his wrath or something. It has been ten years and people still believe he got all of that anger his father got inside of his rotten heart.

“Oh I didn’t, this is my party trick.” He said, smirking, he put his hands on the teapot and steam came out of it in seconds, the girl smiled with awe and Zuko counted that as a win. “By the way, you don’t have to call me Fire Lord, there is no one here but us, you can drop the formalities.” 

“I— but! sir! You are the Fire Lord!” She said as if Zuko just asked something scandalous. 

“I'm aware” He filled both cups with the steaming liquid. “But look at me, I am only some sleep deprived guy, and we are sharing a nice cup of tea, like friends, because apparently no of us could sleep. Just call me Zuko, but maybe not when we got council members breathing behind our necks. If that’s fine with you, of course.” 

“It is” She smiled. Her eyes smiled with her, and Zuko couldn’t stop himself for thinking she got a very nice and joyful smile, a bit like Sokka’s. “Thanks you for the tea siiii— I mean, thanks you Zuko” 

They both shared another smile and then Zuko finally came to the realization that he actually didn’t know her, not even her name.

“What’s your name, I think I should know this already but I genuinely can't remember. I'm sorry.” He actually felt sorry for that, he has made quite an effort on learning the name of all the staff, the least they deserved for taking such good care of him was that he should know their names. He sighed. “That’s why I keep ambassador Sokka around, he is the good one with the names, well that and his nice legs.” 

“Oh! It’s alright, I just recently came to work here, my name is Biya.” She waved off his worries, laughing at his tiny ‘I’m so madly in love with my husband’ joke, so much calmer and less anxious than when she still believed he was going to fire her, she had taken the ‘we are the same’ card by heart in a matter of seconds, and Zuko decided that he liked her. 

He graded the plate with pastries and offered it to Biya, she looked confused for a second. 

“I really enjoy eating sweets when I am sad, I think they can cheer you up too.” He offers again and she takes one and gives it a bite. 

“So you saw that.” She said after swallowing that bite. Zuko joined her with a pastry for himself. He wasn’t hungry, the full point was to make her feel a little but better.

“I actually heard it from the hall” He tried to make it sound like a joke, but it probably didn’t. 

“It is good then that only you heard it” She bit on her pastry again.

“Listen, I genuinely don’t want to eavesdrop into something so personal but, are you ok Biya?” He wanted to know if there was something he could help with, he didn’t like the way she was crying so inconsolably earlier, so broken, he saw her eat the rest of her sweet in three bites and then glup most of her _scalding_ tea down. She looked angrier now, and then incredibly sad again. Tears started to roll down her cheeks full of food. She swallowed loudly. 

“I am not, I can not lie to you.” 

“Is there something I can do?” 

“I don’t think so.” She dried some of the tears with the back of her hand very hard, it probably hurt. 

“Are you sure? I have a lot of power I can abuse of” She laughed sadly, and then grabbed another pastry. “Or perhaps you would like someone to hear you?” 

She looked at him surprised, and then she smiled so thankful, and then her mouth tembled and she started to explain while tearing up, she swallowed and cleaned her tears and made hand gestures that were supposed to explain something to him, but he really couldn’t translate anything but some small phrases like _he’s the worst thing that happened to me_ or _how can someone be so cruel._ Well, there was obviously a man out there that Zuko really wanted to have a few words with, but he didn’t know exactly what about. He put a hand on her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry Biya, I can’t really understand what you are saying.” She put the letter that have been on the table all this time on his other hand and then she dropped her head on his shoulder making him jump a little, she let go of some awful watery cries, muffled by his clothes, and Zuko tried awkwardly to pat her back, and she just cried even louder. He started to read said letter. 

And then he was so _furious_ at this faceless man, it wasn’t his place to be so angry in behalf of this girl he just meet, but if he crossed that door right now he won’t be able to control himself, he thought of how would it be if this girl was one of his closest friends, no one deserved this but he imagined what would he do if Biya was Toph or Suki or Katara or any of the multiple woman he shared a friendship with, and he felt rage curling on his gut. 

How could a man be such a coward, how could someone say that they loved someone with such undying passion and then act as if they were strangers because he was so so scared of parenthood? 

The faceless man has been recently informed that Biya has been blessed with a surprising pregnancy. Then the letter filled it self with insults, that the child was not his, that he won’t pay for taking care of _it_ , that Biya most be a slut if she managed to get pregnant so easily, that he got a life ahead in which a child was not an option, what would his family say of this _bastard child,_ that he was leaving the city so they didn’t have to see each others again, that he never loved her. Zuko feel nauseous.

“Oh sweetheart” Zuko said and hugged her, he didn’t say anything else to her, he only tried his best to calm her, rubbing circles on her back. 

“He said that he loved me” She cried, after a while, the tea wasn’t steaming anymore. She untangled herself from Zuko and sniffed, she rubbed at her red puffy eyes. 

“I am sorry he lied like that to you” He holded her hand in between his, her’s were very cold and tiny and Zuko thought sadly that she must be even younger than Toph. “You don’t deserve what is happening to you” 

“Thank you so much for listening, you didn’t have to, you must have so many other things to worry about.” She laughed bitterly. 

“I am human too, people forget it sometimes” He started, and Biya made eye contact with him. “I would be devastated if one of my friends came to me for a problem just like yours, I am devastated in you behalf Biya, I know we barely know each others, and that i am ignorant of the life you live, but i can assure you that you do not deserve this, and if i can do anything to help you do not debut I would” 

Her eyes went glassy again, but she smiled and squished his hand. 

“I heard from some of the staff that you were a kind man, that I shouldn’t be so afraid of you, my parents were so scared of Fire Lord Ozai, they used to work here, so I just never thought that his son could be so different.” She looked at their hands in between their laps and smiled sadly. 

“Well, my father and I were raised in completely different circumstances. I got manners, that’s for sure.” Being compared with _him_ used to feel like a punch in the guts, but now he felt proud of the thing that made him different from him, it took a lot of years anyhow. 

She chuckled at that then her expression got darker and more sad, she squished his hand, it hurt a little. She didn’t meet his eyes when she spoke. 

“Do you think I can do this on my own?” 

“You are going to be such a loving mother, Biya” She smiled at him again, finally looking at him in the eyes and they shined with gratitude. There was a nock in the door and both of them jolted, clearly not expecting that. 

“Hey Jerklord, what’s taking you so long, your very handsome husband was all alone! You—“ Sokka was standing on the door, wearing nothing but his underwear and his own robe, that was blue and thicker than Zuko’s, he didn’t even bothered with tying the knot, and his hair was a bird nest on top of his head, his betrothal necklace the only other piece of clothing he was wearing. “Tui and La, who died?” 

“I can see why you keep him around,” Biya said, shamelessly eyeing Sokka up and down and Zuko snorted, and she laughed, unable to stop herself, Trying to cover it with her small hand. 

—

Zuko was successful on trying to convince Biya to go back to her quarters, those were spaces meant for them, since many preferred living at the palace to be sure they attended work in time, or if the Fire Lord suddenly craved a full festin on the middle of the night (something not likely to happen with the current Lord, but that did happened with previous ones). She said that she will be ready in the morning just like every other morning and Zuko responded giving her the free day, she got a lot to think about and he doubted she could get any sleep at all, but that she needed to try, at least while not worrying about her job attendance, then he said she should take a few days off actually and Biya said he was exaggerating, and that going back to work would be so much better for her than staying in bed all day. 

They said their good nights and then he parted to his own bed, hand in hand with Sokka, leaving his new friend alone in the kitchens again, just hoping for the best.

“Look at you, I left you alone for an hour and you come back with new friends. Should I be jealous?” Sokka said when they turned around the corner, far from the kitchen. Zuko knew better that believe he was actually jealous, Sokka was nothing but amused, it was hard for Zuko to make new camarades in general, even after all this years after the war, and it was so much more harder to do it with the staff, that usually avoided him because the still believed he was a man full of rage like the previous ones (and the elder members of the staff and the council actually fomented those rumors, they said they did it so the servants won’t disrespect him, Zuko told them to stop years ago but he knew they keep talking behind his back). Sokka said once that he was like a turtleduck, unable to hurt a fly without proper reasons, and not calling him Fire Lord once wasn’t a really good reason. 

“She looked so broken crying like that, like she couldn’t breathe” He responded, looking at the carpet. 

“Whatever you did made her a lot less sad then” He was smiling fondly down at him, down because he was at least a head taller than him, until today he wondered what the Water tribe feeded their children became Sokka and Katara both have grown up to be so unexpectedly tall, it was just plain unfair for the rest of their friend group (except for Aang that was one skinny vine). 

They stopped in front of their door and Zuko took the opportunity to kiss him softly on the lips, he heard movement from the guards and he knew they were looking away, everyone around the palace got a little embarrassed when the Fire Lord showed his affections so openly around an audience. 

Sokka smiled at him widerly, the corners of his eyes smiling with him, he opened the door to let them both inside. They both dropped on bed heavy, not bothering with undressing out of their robes, looking up at the ceiling for a few seconds before they both rolled to face the other on the dark of the night, they reached for each other by muscle memory, Zuko holding his husband face between his palms and Sokka rough hands pulled him closer to his body by his waist, he put his leg on top of Zuko and trapped him even closer to his body, laughing on his mouth, and Zuko joined, if it wasn’t because they were lying on their sides it would look like Sokka was some kind of Koala-Monkey clinging on a tree. 

Zuko roamed his hand down his husband body, to grab his hairy thigh, he wasn’t flexing his leg so the muscle felt soft under his palm and he squished playfully, he was so much larger that Zuko, his body was chunky and strong but also soft in the sides and his stomach because it been a while since Sokka have forgotten everything about regular training, and Zuko just loved it, he loved that he was big and solid and he wondered if one day he would stop having this embarrassing crush on his own husband, he didn’t believe it would change because his heart did funny flips whenever Sokka said something nice to him, when ever he complimented him about the most mundane stuff, when ever he called him love, honey, sunshine or my husband, or whenever Sokka undressed in front of him which have been almost every day since they got married and a few years prior that. Maybe Zuko got some kind of heart disease he was not aware of. 

Sokka changed positions so now his arms could play with his husband long inky hair, and Zuko sighed when he scratched his nape and his thumb pressed lightly on his pulse point, on top of his own necklace, Sokka bited at his lip, not enough to cause any pain and Zuko’s breathing hitched, and then he talked against his lips. 

“We need to sleep, we have a council meet tomorrow.” He said but he made no effort to untangle himself from Sokka. 

“Mmmh we can skip it.” He suggested while moving his kisses to his neck which was a very low move, he knew how much he liked that, it was using his personal information at his advantage, he wouldn’t let it fool him so easily. 

“Do you want Yaozu to get angry at us again?” Zuko said playfully, just to put resistance. 

“Yes baby! Talk to me about the cranky old men of the council, you know how much it turns me on” Sokka laughed and bit down on his neck. “Come on, tell me about that time we saw him pulling at the hair of his ears” He got that teasing sarcastic tone he always used to mock Zuko in a way that would make him laugh at the end, and it worked because Zuko snorted loudly and his body shaked with the laughter he tried to shut down unsuccessfully. 

“Oh Agni! That’s something I wanted to forget!” Sokka let a trail of wet kisses all over the exposed skin of his neck. “Come on! We barely got night left to sleep!” 

“I would believe that you don’t wanna make out with me if you weren’t gripping at my ass” Oops, when did his hand get there? “You already let me all lonely here for a few hours, the least you can do is kiss me, you know, so i can forgive you~” 

And so like that, he forgot for a second about his hot husband kissing his neck and he remembered why he stayed that long on the kitchens, hearing her heartbroken story, the fact that someone could deny love so easily, like it didn’t matter, how she would have to rise a child all by herself, he thought how easy it was to hate your children. 

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong? Why did you get so tense all of sudden?” Sokka stopped in an instant, as he always did when he noticed Zuko was remotely uncomfortable with his cares, he untangled his hand from his hair and placed it on his shoulder, a safer space. 

“It is nothing” He lied, it was just his automatic response, Sokka grimaced at his obvious lie. “Ok yeah, it is not nothing.” 

“Are you planning on telling me?” Sokka urged and Zuko sighed. Sokka looked at him with worry. 

“I was just thinking about what happened to Biya” That made Sokka relax again, resting his palm back on his neck, petting the skin under his jaw softly, it made Zuko sigh again. “Just— don’t tell anyone, I don’t think she would like this information on everyone's mouths.” 

“Of course, you know I know all the gossip in this palace, she won’t know I know, I am an explendid actor. Promise.” Zuko kinda wanted to make fun of him for his use of the word ‘know’ but he let it slip, this time. “That’s why she was crying before i came in?” 

“Yeah, she told her boyfriend she was pregnant and… well…” 

“He said he didn’t want to be part of it.” Sokka finished for him, Zuko nodded. “Well that’s shit, she’s better without a coward by her side.” 

“Have you ever thought about it?” He felt his cheeks burning up with embarrassment, this was a common adult conversation! Why was he shy about it! 

“About pulling a disappearing act because I got you pregnant? Nah, not even in my weirdest dreams.” 

“I am trying to have a serious conversation here!” He didn’t yell, but his voice did take that angry tone.

“Ok! Ok! Have I ever thought about what?” 

“About having kids? With me?” Zuko looked at him, in the eyes, as they were open wide, like he didn’t know what to say, like he didn’t expected that from Zuko, he was silent and the cares of his hand stopped, and Zuko’s brain started working at full capacity, his heart started beating out of ribcage, _was that it? The one thing that would break this long lasting relationship? Was Sokka going to stop loving him because they wanted different things for their future?_ Zuko was afraid, and his breathing got shorter and then, finally, _finally,_ because it felt like an eternity, Sokka looked at him like if he was the most precious thing in the world, he smiled at him and brushed some of the strands of hair out of his face, he did it so softly, Zuko felt his heart been squished, this was a sensation he knew but he would never get used to, the crushing reality that Sokka loved him, and that everything he did would never inflict pain on him, that he won’t go anywhere, that he was Zuko’s, and he belonged to Sokka, it was easy as that, but he still got problems processing that, even after all this years. 

“I would like everything with you” His voice was full of emotion, and Zuko hurried to tangle his arms around his neck and kiss him desperately, Sokka responded right away, hugging his waist, and rolling them over so he could use both arms to squeeze Zuko against his chest, Zuko landed on top of him, in between his spread legs. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Zuko demanded when they parted, breathless, holding himself up with his hands so he could look down at this beautiful man that would manage to give him a heart attack one of these days, his inky hair making a curtain of hair around his husband's head. He sounded so out of breath, and Sokka fucking giggled. 

“I don’t know, Honey, I just didn’t want you to think that you _have to_ because _I want to,_ ” He was smiling, Zuko wondered if his face was gonna be stuck like that for a while, he brushed his hair behind Zuko’s ears, so he could see his blushing face properly. Agni! Was he blushing? “I was under the impression that you didn’t like the idea of having kids, since the council has been very insistent that you should multiply, and you've been very insistent on telling them to fuck off.”

“The council can go eat shit! I am not having kids because they want me to! ” Zuko was beaming with happiness because his husband wanted a family! With him! Did he know how many times he had fantasized with this? Whenever Sokka played with Bumi and made so little effort on paying attention to him, on making him giggle and hide his chubby cheeks under his tiny palms, like it came so naturally to him? 

“Lucky guess. Since Bumi?” And apparently his face was answer enough because Sokka was rolling them over again so now he will be in on top. “I've been seeing you, you are such a loving uncle, you are going to be such a good father.” 

“Do you really believe so?” His heart was on his throat, a tiny glimpse of worry crawling into his brain. 

“You are gonna be fantastic! I think you will be nothing like _him,_ you would be a great father just like your uncle is with you.” Oh how does this man manage to say just the right things? 

“I know you are just saying those things to get into my pants” Zuko attempted to joke because he didn’t know if he could keep having this conversation right now, smiling at his beautiful husband, big, with teeth and all, because he believed him, not because he actually believed he got the capacity to be a good dad, but because if Sokka believed in him maybe he really could do it. 

“I don’t need to lie to get into your pants, besides—“ He sat back, on top of Zuko’s legs, straddling his hips. He pulled one of the endings of the knot of his night robe, untying it slowly. “You are not wearing any pants.”

**Author's Note:**

> WOW THANKS FOR READING!
> 
> If u think im gonna do what u think im gonna do, ur absolutely right. 
> 
> I really wanna finish this because i already got the last chapter done and i just need the in between.
> 
> Thanks u so much for reading again!!


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